1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in light fixtures which are securable to ceilings or walls, and to enclosures which are securable to those fixtures. More particularly, this invention relates to fixtures and to enclosures which are readily secured to, and readily separated from, those fixtures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Light fixtures, that are securable to ceilings and to walls, frequently have a plurality of knurled screws that can be rotated into engagement with annular collars, on enclosures for those fixtures, to hold those enclosures in engagement with those fixtures. Whenever it is desirable to remove any of those enclosures, for replacement of the light source or for cleaning that enclosure or the light fixture, the knurled-head screws will be rotated away from the collar on that enclosure to free that enclosure for movement away from that light fixture. To make the screws relatively unobtrusive, the heads of those screws are frequently made quite small; and hence it can be difficult to grip those heads tightly enough to tighten or loosen those screws. Also, those screws can become so tightly engaged with the collar on an enclosure that it is difficult to rotate them away from that collar. As a result, the use of knurled-head screws which directly engage an enclosure for a light fixture to hold that enclosure in engagement with a fixture is objectionable.
Other light fixtures have pivoted fingers or tongues that are normally held in extended position by a helical extension spring. Those fingers or tongues can be moved inwardly to enable the collar of a glass enclosure to be telescoped up past those fingers or tongues; and, thereafter, the spring will move those fingers or tongues into position to underlie and to support the annular flange between that collar and the rest of that enclosure. Such fixtures are expensive, the fingers and tongues do not always pivot easily, and the springs have to be made so they are strong enough to prevent accidental release of the enclosures but are not so strong that they require users to exert heavy forces during the separation of the enclosures from those fixtures. As a result, those fixtures are not as desirable as a fixture should be.
Still other light fixtures are equipped with springs that have legs which extend through slots in brackets that are disposable within the glass enclosures that are used with those fixtures. Those springs respond to downward pulls on the enclosures to cause the slotted brackets to slip downwardly along the legs of the springs until those brackets are intercepted and held by the feet on those legs. The upper ends of the springs present inclined faces to the slotted brackets; and hence they can urge the enclosures up against the fixtures. Those fixtures are very expensive, they can create shadows on the glass enclosures, they force the user to separate the springs from the slotted brackets whenever the enclosures are to be separated from the fixtures for cleaning, they force the user to fit the springs into the slots in the brackets whenever the enclosures are to be connected to the fixtures, and they provide only limited amounts of space for a user's fingers. As a result, those fixtures are not as desirable as a fixture should be.
Other arrangements have been proposed for releasably holding enclosures in assembled relation with ceiling or wall mounted light fixtures, but none of those arrangements has been completely satisfactory. Moreover, many of those arrangements have never reached the market.